[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 24224-24225]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          UNFINISHED BUSINESS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, when I finished speaking, the Senator from 
Arizona came to the floor and said it is unseemly that we would be 
discussing the Presidential race. The race has been discussed by 
Senators on both sides of the aisle, as it should be. There is no more 
important decision to be made by the American people than the choice of 
the President of the United States, and that choice will determine what 
this body considers for the next 4 years.
  Frankly, we ought to reflect on what has happened with this 
Republican-led Congress. If you take a look at the fact that we are 
approaching the Halloween holiday, in that spirit we might consider the 
fact that Congress has become ``Sleepy Hollow,'' the final resting 
place for priorities of American families.
  Take a look at the list of things that have been offered by the 
Democratic side but have not been acted upon by the Republican side: A 
real Patients' Bill of Rights. When you go to a doctor, who should make 
the decision; a doctor or insurance company clerk? That is an easy 
choice for me. I want the doctor to make the call. When we tried to 
pass that bill in the Senate, the Republicans defeated us.
  Prescription drug coverage under Medicare: Not one of these 
convoluted schemes we just heard described that would somehow give 
prescription drugs to the States for 4 years, take it back, give it to 
the insurance companies--we know how it should work. Medicare has been 
on the books for 35 years. It is proven. It is universal.
  Frankly, we think all seniors and disabled in that category should be 
able to make the choice themselves, voluntarily, whether or not they 
want the benefit under Medicare. The Republicans do not care for 
Medicare. They called it socialized medicine when the Democrats 
proposed it and, frankly, they are still criticizing it, doing little 
to help that system.
  Most Americans know how valuable Medicare has been to their families. 
We think a prescription drug benefit under Medicare should be the law. 
The Republicans and pharmaceutical interests have stopped us.

[[Page 24225]]

  We also believe in an increase in the minimum wage. Ten million 
Americans went to work this morning for $5.15 an hour, and they are not 
just kids in their first jobs. Over half of them are women and many of 
them are raising children and trying to eke out a living at $5.15 an 
hour. We used to give them a periodic increase in the minimum wage 
without even debate, but the Republicans now think this is 
unacceptable; that we cannot give a minimum wage increase without 
lording billions of dollars in tax breaks on businesses. For goodness' 
sake, give these people--400,000 of them in Illinois--an increase in 
the minimum wage of at least 50 cents an hour for the next 2 years. 
That bill has not passed, and the Republican Congress has had ample 
opportunity to address it.
  We believe on the Democratic side we need tax cuts; use the surplus 
for tax cuts for families for the deductibility of college education 
expenses. That is a concern I hear from families as soon as the baby is 
born. How are we going to pay for this kid's education? When you see 
the cost of education going up over a 20-year period of time, from the 
time that child was born until they will be in school--it goes up 200 
percent, 400 percent--people ask: How can we possibly do this?
  On the Democratic side, we want to give the families deductibility of 
tuition and fees to help them pay for college. The Republicans oppose 
it. We support it. That is the difference. When we offered it, they 
stopped us.
  Also, we are talking about education funds to improve our Nation's 
schools, to reduce class size. This does not take a Ph.D. in education 
to understand. If you were a teacher, would you rather walk in on the 
first day and see a classroom with 30 kids or 15 kids? Are you more 
likely able to help a struggling student if there are 15 children in 
the classroom or 30? It is not rocket science. It does not take a Ph.D.
  We on the Democratic side believe reducing class size is the first 
step to helping kids from falling behind and helping those better 
students get a little more attention.
  We also believe we ought to be supporting afterschool programs for 
students. Letting kids go now at 3 o'clock is just a gamble because 
very few of them have parents at home. They do not have Ozzie and 
Harriet waiting with cookies and milk anymore. They are by themselves.
  Some do pretty well, but a lot of them do not. We think afterschool 
programs, supervised, so kids have a chance to maybe catch up on their 
school subjects, maybe appreciate the arts a little more, maybe become 
better on a computer, or even just play some basketball, makes some 
sense as long as there is supervision. We support afterschool programs 
and fought the Republicans every step of the way trying to put this 
valuable money back into education.
  We also believe in commonsense gun safety legislation. The No. 1 
story in 1999 in the news was the Columbine tragedy. What has America 
done to keep guns out of the hands of children and criminals? Congress 
has done nothing. Nothing.
  The National Rifle Association and its leader, ``Mr. Moses,'' have 
decided we are not going to do anything to keep guns out of the hands 
of children and criminals, and that is criminal. The Republican-led 
Congress should be held accountable for that.
  If you have an aging parent or grandparent, the Democrats believe you 
should have a tax break to help pay for their care.
  How many folks and families do you know worried about that aging 
parent and how their last years are going to be? They need a helping 
hand. We support it, as we support increased targeted tax cuts to help 
people pay for day care, so kids can be left in a healthy, safe 
environment and families can afford to pay for it. Stay-at-home moms, 
who sacrifice for their kids, should get a tax break, too. They are 
making a sacrifice that will enhance that child's future. We should 
invest in them as well.
  When it comes to these myriad issues I have just given you, these are 
the issues with which working families, middle-income families, and 
single people as well can identify. Yet we have had no help whatsoever 
on the Republican side of the aisle. The Republican Congress has failed 
to address the basic issues of education and health care, taxes that 
are reduced and targeted tax cuts and credits for families who really 
need them, prescription drug coverage under Medicare, and a Patients' 
Bill of Rights.
  We came to this Congress with all kinds of lofty goals. We are 
leaving now, unfortunately, with appropriations bills as large as the 
Washington, DC, telephone book, scarcely read, that serve too many 
special interests and too few families across this country.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. DURBIN. I yield the floor.

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